After two deadly crashes on State 21, we ask experts: is the two-lane highway safe?

Two cars and a motorcycle were involved in a crash that killed one person and injured three others.
Sophia Carson, Post Crescent

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A car drives on State 21 on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, at Poygan Avenue in the town of Rushford. Three people died since June in two crashes on the two-lane highway between Redgranite and Oshkosh, making it the deadliest road this year in Winnebago County.(Photo: Joe Sienkiewicz/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)Buy Photo

OMRO - Three people have died in crashes on State 21 in rural Winnebago County since June. It’s the most on any single road in the county this year, sparking concern the road is unsafe.

The long, straight stretch of two-lane highway has been the site of two deadly crashes this year, each involving three vehicles. The latest, on Oct. 28, killed Gary Martin and Julie Sara, both 75, of Hillsboro, Oregon, and injured five others.

Traffic safety experts say straight two-lane highways like State 21 are among the most dangerous roads, and preventing fatal crashes is a complex process.

Andrea Bill, a traffic safety researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said it’s a myth that a straight road is a safe one. On an open road, with cruise control on, it can be easy to pay less attention to driving.

“There’s kind of an optimal workload. If you don’t have a lot for the driver to think about, then they start thinking about other things,” Bill said.

Then a driver might pick up their phone or let their mind wander, she said.

But it’s not just a driver’s behavior that contributes to — or can prevent — a crash, Bill said. The other key component is how the road is engineered.

And from an engineering standpoint, two-lane highways don’t allow for big mistakes.

“There’s so many of these crashes — these fatal and serious-injury crashes — on these two-lane roadways,” Bill said. “People have a tendency to maybe get a little distracted and cross over (the center line), and there’s just not a lot of room for corrections there.”

Plus, these roads mix high speeds with driveways and intersections. Drivers might not be prepared for someone to pull out in front of them, she said.

Interstates are far safer statistically, Bill said, because if a driver encounters a problem, it’s easier to avoid or fix. Interstates have multiple lanes to maneuver through and wide shoulders to pull over, and you never need to worry about sudden cross-traffic.

How to stop bad crashes: It's a complex problem with few easy answers

Law enforcement tries to cut down on these serious crashes by putting more squad cars on the roads. More patrols means catching more speeders and reckless drivers as well as deterring drivers from bad behavior, State Patrol Sgt. Erica Larsen said.

The State Patrol has flagged State 21 and State 44 in Winnebago County for increased patrols, Larsen said. She wouldn’t go as far as calling the state highways unsafe.

But squad cars can’t be everywhere, Bill said. We can also look to street engineering to make roads safer — like installing rumble strips on the center line to alert distracted drivers they’re leaving their lane. Ultimately, the public needs to adopt a culture of safe driving, she said.

For the State Patrol’s part, it reminds drivers to leave enough time for travel, not to pass slow tractors on country roads and to have good tires and windshield wipers in case of bad weather.

Bill’s hope is that between drivers’ decisions, the road’s safety features and law enforcement’s presence, something will safeguard against serious crashes like the recent ones on State 21.

But it’s crucial all the separate pieces — engineers, police, drivers, lawmakers — to work together, she said.

“It’s an ongoing process that everybody needs to be a part of,” Bill said. “We can’t be siloed. The engineers can’t be separate from the enforcement which can’t be separate from the road users or the politicians — everybody needs to understand that this is a public health crisis.”

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A drives drives on State 21 on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, at Poygan Avenue in the town of Rushford. Three people died since June in two crashes on the two-lane highway between Redgranite and Oshkosh, making it the deadliest road this year in Winnebago County.(Photo: Joe Sienkiewicz, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)